Hyde Park was a town in Norfolk County created from Dedham, Milton, and Dorchester. It was annexed to Boston in Suffolk County. This guide discusses the records created by this town and includes references to material of present-day Hyde Park (the neighborhood of Boston) as well. Be careful of the time period you are researching here as the records you need may be in one of two counties or one of four other towns.

Contents

Brief History

The town of Hyde Park was born out of a border dispute between Dedham and Milton in 1868. The General Court of the Commonwealth settled the case by creating the new town from parts of the two towns and adding more land from Dorchester. The new town was part of Norfolk County until the town voted to be annexed by the City of Boston and the "neighborhood" moved into Suffolk County and ceased to exist as a town. For information regarding this area before 1868, see Dedham, Dorchester, or Milton. For information after 1912, see Boston.

Historical Data

The basic data is from the "Historical Data" publication series[1] with additions from various sources.

City Directories

Hyde Park was first published in 1866/7 (before it was a town [with Milton?]), with Dedham/Canton in 1874, and Dedham/Norwood in 1876/7. After that, it was published separately in 1879, 1881-1886, 1888, 1891, 1893, 1895-6, 1897, 1901, 1903, 1905, 1907, 1909, 1911, 1913, 1915.

The Library of Congress (Washington, D.C.) has one of the largest collections of city directories in the country. They are likely to own most of the years listed above. Their collection is in microfiche, microfilm, and books, but there is no online inventory of their holdings except for microfilm. See their guide online.

Cemeteries

Hyde Park has one cemetery mostly within its old border, Fairview Cemetery (1892), and another new one, Oak Lawn Cemetery (1989). To learn more about this cemetery, and others nearby, see Boston Cemeteries.